Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hi there,

My name is Kieran Turnbull. I am going into my fourth year of Film and Media at Queen's, and I am writing this to request that I drop FILM 387 without receiving academic penalties. This is not something I ever anticipated needing to do, but this past month has been very difficult.

A confluence of my struggles with ADHD, a health incident of my own in mid-June, and a close family member of mine who had just suffered a stroke all compiled to a point where I did not feel mentally or physically capable of doing my work. This deeply saddened me, as this cinematography course was something I was really, really looking forward to, and it broke my heart to be unable to engage with it the way I wanted to.

When I emailed Ryan Randall explaining my tardiness with assignments, I was in the wake of dealing with the stroke of my family member, and resolved to finish my remaining assignments within the week. Unfortunately I was unable to do this, as that family member actually passed away shortly thereafter due to complications from the stroke. I have been processing it to the best of my abilities, while also trying to be there for the rest of my family. These past two weeks have been taxing, and I just couldn't muster the mental strength to get my coursework done.

Long story short, I recognize that I cannot get my money back for the course, and am more than okay with that. I'm writing to see if it's still possible to drop the course without suffering academic consequences. In my three years at Queen's, I've been a consistently straight-A student, and have worked my hardest in every course. If I can't get this course stricken from my academic record, it's not the end of the world, but if possible I'd rather not have this mark included in my overall GPA and academic transcript, as I do not believe whatsoever that it is a reflection of my skills, engagement, or investment in the Film & Media Program. I have worked as hard as possible in every course, and my grades across my three years here reflect that. This is not a normal occurrence for me, and I hope that it will never happen again. I love this program, and I love these courses. I want to be able to give them my all, and this summer I was unable to do that. I pray it is the only time that will be the case.

All the best,

Kieran Turnbull